1. Accreditation Evaluation of the BS-CSE Program
CSE Department
Ohio State University

2. Background
Undergrad programs in CoE: accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Comm. (EAC);
BS-CSE: also accredited by the Computing Accreditation Comm. (CAC);
EAC & CAC: part of the Accreditation Board of Engineering Tech. (ABET).

3. Background (contd.) Standard term of accreditation: 6 yrs
Last evaluation: Au 1999
Hence: Now due for re-evaluation.
Rest of college also up for re-evaluation.

4. To Be Accredited a BS-CSE Program Must:
Meet a set of criteria specified by EAC;
Meet a set of criteria specified by CAC;
Prepare (& submit to ABET) a detailed self-study that demonstrates this;
Host the evaluation team for a three-day site visit;
Enable team to evaluate various aspects of the program/ dept./ college/ university.

5. Current Status Self-study: Submitted (late June).
ABET has appointed the following team:
Dr. Tuel (IBM): CAC team chair;
Dr. Aylor (Univ. of Virginia): CAC prog. eval.
Dr. Tuan (US military?): EAC prog. eval.
Site visit: Oct. 30, Oct. 31, Nov. 1 (Main day of visit: Monday, Oct. 31)

6. Main Components of Site Visit:
Talk to individual faculty: get feel for faculty morale, departmental atmosphere, support for research, ...
Talk to students: get their views on curriculum, faculty, facilities, ...
Talk to undergrad (staff) advisors, computing facilities staff, ...

7. Main Components (contd.)
Talk to university officials: dept. chair, dean, provost, univ. registrar, ...
Evaluate course materials: mainly CSE courses, others to a limited extent;
Evaluate various facilities: classrooms, libraries, computing facilities, ...

8. More Details of Site Visit:
Oct. 30 (Sunday): evaluate course materials; team meetings, etc.
Oct. 31 (Monday): Dean presentation; meetings with dean, chair; meetings with faculty, advising staff, computing staff, tour of facilities,... lunch (hosted by college); meeting with students; visits to library, ...; etc.

9. More Details (contd.)
Nov. 1 (Tuesday): follow-up meetings (as needed); debriefing of chair; debriefing of dean; team lunch; Exit interview (provost, dean, ...?)
Nov ??: Wait to hear from EAC & CAC.

10. Results
For each criterion, the team may conclude that the criterion is:
Satisfied; or
Satisfied but with some “concern”; or
Satisfied but with some “weakness”; or
Not satisfied
“Weakness” means: Criterion is satisfied but not to a sufficient degree;
“Concern” means: Criterion satisfied but team not sure it will remain satisfied.

11. Possible Final Results
All criteria satisfied:
NGR (Next General Review)
All criteria satisfied but some concerns:
NGR (next team will check the concerns)
All criteria satisfied but some weaknesses:
IR (Interim Report in two years); or
IV (Interim Visit: limited visit in two years).
One or more criteria not satisfied:
SC (Show Cause; accr. will be revoked unless cause can be shown why it should not be).

12. The Result We Want NGR! Or maybe NGR with concern(s)! Timeline:
Final result: July/Aug. ’06;
We will get a feel for it in the Exit Interview;
Better feel from “preliminary statement” (late January/early February 2006).

13. Important Points:
Accreditation evaluators are volunteers; Interact with them in the same way you interact with paper referees, NSF panelists, etc.
Evaluators only evaluate against the criteria specified by CAC & EAC; they do not make up the criteria. Do NOT debate the criteria with them!
Guiding principle: Make the team’s job as easy as possible!

14. Accr. Criteria (EAC + CAC)
Requirements in eight categories:
Students
Program Objectives
Program Outcomes, Assessments
Curriculum (Professional Component)
Faculty
Labs and computing facilities
Institutional facilities (libraries etc.)
Institutional support & resources

15. Web Pages http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~neelam/abet

16. Students The program must:
Advise students in curricular/career matters;
Evaluate student performance/ monitor student progress;
Must ensure all students meet all program requirements;
Must have & enforce policies for acceptance of transfer students & transfer credits;

17. Students (contd.)
Courses must be offered with sufficient frequency (to allow students to complete program in reasonable time).
CS courses must ensure effective interaction between faculty & students; (or TAs & students in lower-lvl. courses)

18. EAC Terminology
Program Objectives: are statements that describe career and professional accomplishments that the program is preparing graduates to achieve.
Program Outcomes: are statements that describe what students should know/be able to do by the time of graduation.

19. Program Objectives Program must have:
Documented, measurable objectives;
A process involving various constituents in which the objectives are determined & periodically evaluated.
A process of ongoing eval. of the extent of achievement of the objectives & use the results to improve the program.

20. Pgm. Outcomes, Assessments
Outcomes: describe what students know and are able to do by the time of graduation.
Must have:
Outcomes that foster attainment of the program objectives;
An assessment process with documented results to measure the degree to which the outcomes are being achieved.
Evidence that the assessment results are used to further develop the program.

21. EC Criterion 3 Outcomes
Must demonstrate that students attain ability to:
Apply knowledge of math/science/eng.
Design/conduct expts; analyze/interpret data;
Design a system/component/process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints;
Function on multi-disciplinary teams;
Identify/formulate/solve engineering problems;
Communicate effectively;

22. Criterion 3 Outcomes (contd.)
Must demonstrate that students attain an:
Understanding of professional & ethical issues;
Broad education necessary to understand impact of eng. solutions in societal context;
Recognition of the need for/ability to engage in life-long learning;
Knowledge of contemporary issues;
Ability to use techniques, skills, and eng. tools necessary for engineering practice.

23. Summary of criterion
Must have outcomes that will ensure achievement of objectives;
Must include specified Cr. 3 outcomes;
Must have assessment process to measure degree of achievement of outcomes;
Must use the assessment results to develop and improve the program.

24. Curriculum (prof. component)
Must include:
60 hrs of computing: 24 hrs of core (algorithms, data str., software des., langs., arch.) 24 hrs of adv.; courses; Theoretical foundations, problem analysis/design must be stressed.
45 hrs of Math/Science; Min: 22.5 Math, 18 Science; Science must include 2-sem lab seq.

25. Curriculum (contd.) 45 hrs of general education courses;
67.5 hrs of engineering sc. and design;
Oral skills must be dev./applied in pgm;
Written skills must be dev./appld. in pgm;
Must include social/ethical issues in computing;
Culminating major design experience incorporating eng. stds./realistic constraints;
Students must be prepared for eng. practice.

26. Faculty Must be sufficient in no. (for the pgm. size)
Must oversee all coursework;
Must cover most of classroom instruction;
Must remain current;
Must have technical breadth & depth to support program;
Must have competence equivalent to grad work in CS;
Must have time for scholarly activities/ professional development.

27. Labs/Computing Facilities
Adequate computing facilities for students & faculty;
Instructional assistance for the labs/ computing facilities;
Readily available documentation for software & hardware;
Adequate support personnel to install & maintain facilities.

28. Institutional Facilities
Library must be adequately staffed;
Library’s collection must include:
up-to-date textbooks;
reference works;
publications of ACM, IEEE, etc.
Systems for locating/obtaining electronic information must be available;
Classrooms must be adequately equipped;
Fac. offices must be adequately equipped.

29. Institutional Support/Resources
Support for faculty must be sufficient to attract/retain high quality fac;
Support for fac. to attend conferences;
Support/recognition of scholarly activities;
Adequate office support;
Adequate time for admin. of the pgm;
Resources to maintain/update labs;
Support for library/inf. retrieval facilities;

30. Main Points
Accreditation evaluators are volunteers; make their job as simple as possible; do not argue with them; do not try to debate the criteria.
The main criteria requirements are about:
Students;
Program objectives, outcomes, &processes;
Assessment process, use results to improve pgm;
Curriculum (including: capstone design course; oral/written skills; social/ethical issues).

31. Main Points (contd.) Be flexible & avail. for meeting with team;
Look through the web pages: ~neelam/abet ~neelam/abet/SITEVISIT
Send questions/comments/suggestions to Neelam.
Thanks for Coming!